Pholus

PHOLUS

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Pholus was discovered on January 9, 1992 and termed a Centaur, the second of a class of small objects with eccentric orbits beyond the path of Saturn, of which Chiron was the first, in astronomy as well as in Greek myth. Pholus is red in color and has an orbital period of 92 years. Just as the orbit of Chiron links Saturn and Uranus the orbit of Pholus links Saturn and Neptune, and the mythology of Pholus partakes of some of the same elements as Chiron. Pholus was also a Centaur, one of those mythic half-man, and half-horse creatures that may perhaps signify the instinctual level that is still embodied in modern man and woman. He was the keeper of the Centaurs' ancient and holy cask of wine, presumably red wine. Like Chiron, Pholus suffered a fatal wounding from the poison arrows of Hercules, after a fracas in which the wine he was entrusted with was inadvertently opened to please Hercules. Pholus sacrificed himself for the greater good, a Neptunian theme, and that symbolism may come up in charts. There is also the motif of intoxication, which might be expected from the link between Saturn, or practical reality, and Neptune, representing numinous, out-of-this-world experience. This link is a problematic one of course. The Neptunian theme also refers us to our inner journey, since the realm of the outer planets is paradoxically found within the human psyche as well as in the far reaches of outer space. Another theme that Pholus might represent is a sacrifice of this earthly world of necessity for the spiritual possibility of the beyond, reflecting the paradoxical contrast between this world and the impractical nature of the divine. When strongly placed, Pholus symbolizes the difficult stretch between these worlds. His position by house and sign, and by planetary connection, is likely to indicate where we have been wounded, and where we struggle with our addictions which are one way of masking over the wound until we are ready to delve into and begin resolving the contradictions of our inner world.